Poetry Terms

the attitude the writer takes toward the subject, the characters in it, or the audience

the voice through which the story or poem is told

repeating words or lines for emphasis

the repetition of vowel sounds in conjunction with dissimilar consonant sounds

a poem that does not tell a story but expresses the thoughts or feelings of the speaker

the mood or feeling created in a piece of writing

poetry that does not conform to a regular meter or rhyme scheme

the alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables in language

the use of sounds to create specific literary effects

the use of a word whose sound imitates or suggests its meaning

language that appeals to the five senses and the forming of mental images

makes a comparison between two unlike things using words such as like, as, than, or resembles

a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a poem

A shift is when this happens in a poem

a statement that seems to be contradictory but actually presents a truth

a reference to a statement/person/place that is known from literature, history, religion, etc.

a figure of speech that uses an incredible exaggeration or overstatement for effect

two consecutive rhyming lines of poetry

a person/place/thing/event that has meaning in itself and that also stands for something more

the repetition of similar final consonant sounds at the ends of words or accented syllables

word/phrase that describes one thing in terms of another and is not meant to be taken literally

a metaphor in which a non-human thing or quality is talked about as if it were human.

the repetition of consonant sounds in words that are close to one another

To paraphrase a poem means to

the repetition of vowel sounds in accented syllables and all succeeding syllables

makes a comparison between two seemingly unlike things without using like, as, than, resembling

when a speaker directly addresses an absent person or a personified quality

combines two opposing or contradictory ideas

the emotional overtones that have become attached to a word or phrase in society

a contrast or discrepancy between expectation and reality

rhyme that occurs within a line of poetry or within consecutive lines

a fourteen line poem, usually written in iambic pentameter

poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter

a rhyming sound that is not exact